Germany forward Marco Reus extends Dortmund contract to 2019

Feb. 10, 2015

"Dortmund is my hometown, and Borussia simply my club," the 25-year-old Reus said in a statement on the club website on Tuesday.

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge angered Dortmund management this season by saying Reus, whose existing contract ran until 2017, could leave for a set fee of 25 million euros ($28 million) at the end of the season.

Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski used such clauses in their contracts to leave Dortmund and join Bayern. But Reus decided to stay put, giving the club a major boost as it struggles through a slump this season.

Dortmund, Bayern's main challenger in recent years with Bundesliga championships in 2011 and 2012 and runner-up finishes the past two seasons, is languishing near the bottom of the Bundesliga.

"There is a lot to do and I want to contribute in a major way," Reus said.

Dortmund's chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said the new contract had no exit clause and that Reus had the chance "to mark an era, like Uwe Seeler in Hamburg or Steven Gerrard in Liverpool."

"We are very proud that he's shown such a high measure of identification with the club even as we go through a sporting crisis," Watzke said. "Such players can become legends."

Reus has been fighting injuries and missed the World Cup because of an ankle tear in Germany's final warm-up match.